This female banded dotterel is sitting on three eggs in a nest among the driftwood wrack and stones on a small high bank among the tidal mud and sand flats at Ashley Estuary
This little male in full breeding plumage is the male which, with it's mate, I have been following since finding their nest with new-laid eggs in it. They produced three chicks from three eggs but on this visit I noted they were down to just one. With the large numbers of karoro (black-backed gull) and feral and domestic cats at Ashley, it must be hard for dotterels to bring a full brood through in a season.
A little speedster that was extremely difficult to photograph!
As at my last observation, there seems to be a lot of unaccompanied males at Ashley at the moment, with the mated males being extremely territorial with lots of minor scraps between the mated and unmated males.
If you see this plant anywhere in Nelson, please notify the City Council on 03-546 0200 and a biosecurity officer will inspect and control the plant at no cost.
This is a climber that I cannot identify. It is next to State Highway 6 a few kilometres from Kawatiri Junction. I am fairly sure that it is not native and it looks like it is pretty keen on the idea of spreading.
I notified DOC but did not get a reply.